Hi guys! We have been so encouraged by the positive feedback for our stories, we have decided to start adding new characters to broaden the scope of our imagination. As always, please feel free to vote, leave feedback, and read our other stories.
Thanks again!!
j&j
It wasn't so terrible; at least, it was much better than she imagined it would be. The idea of starting over at this stage in life wasn't something she would have planned, but life had deviated from her wishes. At least she was in good shape for money and support. Many other divorced middle-aged women weren't.
Middle-aged? What the hell did that mean? She supposed there was a certain way she was supposed to look and act at 35, but she wasn't sure it applied to her. That was the freedom and the fear she had now. Since she had spent the last fifteen years defining herself by what her husband thought she should do, she never gave much thought to whether or not she liked it. It was like she was back at twenty. Able to reset and walk different paths. That didn't make it any easier to know which ones were right. At least she knew ONE was the wrong one.
She alternated by feeling excited and out of place on the university campus. She looked much younger than she was, thanks mostly to her Asian genes. (Thanks mom.) But she couldn't help thinking that when most of these kids were born, she eagerly anticipating the upcoming concert where a band no one else knew of, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, would be opening for Oingo Boingo. They were the band that.......never mind.
And she was enjoying her classes. That made it worth going to school every day. Ok, every OTHER day. That made it easier to have people watch Jasmine for her. Next year her daughter Jasmine would be in school full-time too, and she would have even more flexibility. On her way to her poli sci class, she grabbed a venti mocha. This professor didn't mind if they brought it to class. She reflected he was probably glad people were willing to make an effort to stay awake. He was a cute black guy and.....a few years younger than she was. Thanks for another reminder. She was getting used to it; she had to join groups for some of her classes, for study and projects. She got invited to parties and flirted with. But she just couldn't quite make the leap to hooking up like a college girl with no obligations.
After class she went to the library to find some books for her upcoming paper. It was easier for her to use books than Google everything like the younger students did. She also believed that the professors liked it better if you cited actual books. "You're not old, you're smart," she reminder herself, and mostly believed it. She rounded the aisle to the political history section, and spotted him out of the corner of her eye. She decided to just keep walking and hope he didn't notice her.
"Abby!"
Shit. Oh well.
Lars was one of the guys who hung out with her project partner from the last semester. He had mostly hung around to mooch beer and coffee off of people. He was Danish, in his early twenties, and no one seemed to know much about his status or life plans. He just came and went. His dirty blond hair was getting a little long and sloppy. He smiled and looked like the guy who plays Chase on House.
"Lars, what are you doing here?"
"This might surprise you, but I do in fact need to come here to do school work sometimes." She always had to concentrate to understand him with his accent. Apparently half of Danish is silent and the other half is mumbled, she wondered if that's how everyone there talks.
"Ok, what are you looking up?"
"Books on Goldwater and Reagan."
"Do they allow you guys to know who Reagan and Goldwater were? I thought you Euros lean to the left as you walk down the street."
He laughed out loud. Too loud for the library. "Maybe that's why I'm not there anymore, did you ever think of that?"
"Lars, I hadn't gone anywhere NEAR that far in trying to figure you out." He flipped his hair out of his face. "How's Anna?" Anna was the wannabe punk rocker he had been hanging off of. She hated her, after she had to explain to her that the guys she considered punk would have been eaten alive by Iggy and the Stooges or the New York Dolls.
"She dropped out and moved to Seattle. Her Facebook says she is serving coffee and looking for acting jobs."
"Good place for her. Lots of flannel-wearing self-loathing people who escaped from their parents."
He laughed again. "She isn't so bad. She just tries a little too hard."
"This coming from the guy with nothing to prove to anyone?" He looked at her mockingly.
"Maybe there's more to me too. Let me buy you lunch."
"So you can prove something to me?" She looked at him smiling, with a little dimple in his chin. "What the hell, I'm hungry."
It was nice outside. Spring was coming early and everything was damp and smelling nice. They walked to a shop and got soup and sandwiches. "Hard to get good soup here. We like soup a lot more in Europe. This is a lot better than most places."
"I know. When I was in Berlin, I could live on just soup and rolls. In America they treat it as a side dish and don't try."
"Why were you in Berlin?" He asked her as he was wiping the bowl with a piece of bread.
"Senior trip. A LONG time ago"
"Did you like it?"